Cincinnati Shakespeare Company presents seventh annual summer series

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues its summer
tradition of Shakespeare in the Park as the free series returns for the seventh
year this August. Romeo and Juliet and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be
showcased in parks around the Greater Cincinnati area and Northern Kentucky
Aug. 3-30.

CSC Ensemble Member Nicholas Rose is directing the classic
lovers tale, Romeo and Juliet. While
the fantastic story of betrayal and magic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is being directed by CSC Education
Associate Miranda McGee. Six actors from the CSC Resident Ensemble will be
acting in these performances. After the free park tour, they will continue to
tour community centers, schools, venues and other performance centers into May
of 2014.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is continuing its partnership
with Cincinnati Parks and Recreation, offering free shows at Seasongood
Pavilion in Eden Park, Burnet Woods, Mt. Echo Park and the new Smale Riverfront
Park. Washington Park will see the group on their tour, alongside parks in
Madeira, Colerain and Monroe in Ohio, and Burlington, Edgewood and Maysville in
Kentucky. The acting troupe will have two performances at the Vinoklet Winery
as well. Certain park locations will be accepting canned food and
non-perishable items — CSC has a partnership with the Freestore Foodbank.

If a free, al fresco viewing of Shakespeare’s best sounds
fun, then make sure to get to each performance early to ensure good seating.
All shows are general admission with first-come, first-serve seating. For more
information go to cincyshakes.com.

In this week's Big Picture column, there is an item that Matt Distel — long active on the local contemporary art scene and current executive director of Northside's Visionaries + Voices center for artists with disabilities — had been named adjunct curator of contemporary art at Cincinnati Art Museum. Today comes the announcement he will leave V+V to be exhibitions director at The Carnegie in Covington, effective in June. He replaces Bill Seitz, who announced his retirement last month. His adjunct position at the art museum will continue.

“Matt is the perfect person to build upon the successes we’ve had in the galleries and we are honored to have him join our team,” said Katie Brass, Carnegie executive director, in a press release. “His personality, his connection to local artists, and background all make him the ideal candidate to run the Carnegie Galleries and to grow programming.”

In that same release, Distel said, “To be part of the legacy the Carnegie has for supporting local and regional artists, it’s very exciting. The Carnegie is one of the premier arts organizations in the region and Bill [Seitz] has established a great framework for me to continue to build an exhibition program that plays a compelling role in the arts community.”

Cincinnati finally got its first "pop-up shop," a holiday effort by local merchants to band together to take over unused retail space in Over-the-Rhine for a short period and then vacate when done. See photos from its opening weekend here.

'Tis also the season for pop-up theater, smaller productions that are squeezed in between performances of mainstage shows. One opens tonight at Know Theatre of Cincinnati.

If you're looking for an unusual but gripping theatrical production this weekend, you should head straight to UC's College-Conservatory of Music for The Threepenny Opera. Don't think that this is some stuffy old piece from 1928, although that's when the
show with a script by Bertoldt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill was first
performed. It was radical and challenging, mocking the establishment
and paying no heed to social structures. This musical theater production, staged by CCM Opera Chair Robin Guarino, feels lethal and threatening. You'll recognize a tune or two ("Mack the Knife" is the show's familiar tune), and if you've seen Cabaret or Urinetown, you'll recognize how this piece influenced those works. Guarino's production, with a big cast and an
imaginative set (designed by Tony Award winner John Arnone), captures
the vitality and spirit of the original work. I doubt we'll see another
production of this one very soon, so here's your chance to catch a bit
of theater history — and be both entertained and provoked. Definitely worth seeing. Through March 10. Box office: 513-556-4183.

If you haven't yet seen Know Theatre's production of When the Rain Stops Falling, that's another one you should have in your sights. Andrew Bovell's dense, imaginative script is a compelling story of multiple, intersecting generations of two families. (Review here.) The taut, engaging 100-minute production,
staged by Cincinnati Shakespeare's Brian Phillips, features several of that company's best actors, as well as several other local standouts. One of the best productions from Know Theatre in several seasons. It's onstage through March 16. Tickets: 513-300-5669.

I haven't seen it (alas, my schedule just doesn't have room for everything), but Legally Blonde: The Musical at NKU has received props from the League of Cincinnati Theatres as an entertaining production. It's the story of Elle Woods, spurned by her fiancé, off to Harvard Law School in pursuit of him, only to discover that she's got the smarts to be more than just a girlfriend. Not profound, but surefire entertainment. Through Sunday. Tickets: 859-572-5464

This is the second and final weekend for Catie O'Keefe's world premiere, Slow Descent from Heaven, presented by New Edgecliff Theatre. (O'Keefe is NET's playwright-in-residence). It's being performed in a converted classroom at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, directed by Ed Cohen. The central character, Molly (Elizabeth A. Harris), is a NASA scientist whose story is bookended by space shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003. An angry, tense character, her involvement with men has affected her career and her attitude.
The story has a reverse chronology, so we peal backwards in time to
learn more about why she's the way she is. This is a good chance to see an original script by a local writer. Tickets: 513-399-6638.

The best theater is honest and real, and that's what True Theatre is setting out to offer via four evenings of "true stories told by real people" beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Know Theatre and continuing into next summer.

Andrew Bovell’s
Speaking in Tonguesis a complicated noir-ish tale of marital
deceit and cryptic crime that unfolds more clearly because of its
accomplished four-actor cast, including local professionals Bruce
Cromer (who’s played roles as varied as Ebenezer Scrooge for the
Playhouse to King Lear for Cincinnati Shakespeare) and Amy Warner (a
regular at Ensemble Theatre and Cincinnati Shakespeare). The show is
a fascinating piece of theater that takes work to watch, follow and
absorb. I suppose that some casual theatergoers will be put off by
it, but if you like challenging drama and multi-layered acting,
you’ll leave the theater with your gears spinning. I gave Speaking
in Tongues a Critic’s Pick in this week's "Curtain Call" column. Onstage through March 4. Box office:
513-421-3888.

If
you’re a fan of the Cincinnati Fringe, you should check out the
Transmigration
Festival
at CCM on the University of Cincinnati campus. I was there last
evening and saw three of the six performances, especially enjoying
Booth,
an interactive piece by nine actors based on John Wilkes Booth’s
final days. I also was entertained by The Eddie Shanahan Show,
closely inspired by Dickens’ A
Christmas Carol,
but with some very modern twists. Attendees choose between six brief
productions (30 minutes or less) that are completely created,
promoted, enacted and staged by drama students. It’s a February
boost of creativity, staged throughout the CCM facility, Friday and
Saturday evenings at 7:30, as well as a 2:30 matinee on Saturday.
Admission is free, but you need to call the CCM box office to reserve
your ticket: 513-556-4183.

Another
university option can be found at NKU. It’s Aaron Sorkin’s The
Farnsworth Invention,
telling the story of Phil Farnsworth who invented television but
spent much of his life in legal wrangles with David Sarnoff, RCA
executive and the first “media mogul.” Sorkin's credits — from
The
West Wing
to The
Social Network
— are a guarantee of a heady, exciting tale based on real events.
Tickets ($14 is the maximum price): 859-572-5464.

Know Theater’s
“comedy of anxiety” by Allison Moore, Collapse,
opens with the collapse of a highway bridge over the Mississippi
River in Minneapolis. But it’s about all kinds of things falling
down — the economy, relationships. This is the kind of edgy script
Know Theatre is known for, funny but meaningful. I gave the
production a Critic’s Pick because it combines heart and humor.
Collapse is presented with comic finesse and fine acting,
especially by local professional actress Annie Fitzpatrick. Know’s
best work of the season. Through March 3. Tickets: 513-300-5669.

This weekend is your
last chance to see the regional premiere of Matthew Lopez’s The
Whipping Man at Ensemble Theatre (through Saturday evening).
The historical play, set in Richmond, Va., in April 1865, just days
after the end of the Civil War, is a gripping drama that’s
beautifully staged and convincingly acted. I gave it a Critic’s
Pick. The production has been extended a week because of demand for
tickets; you won’t be contending with subscribers this weekend, so
if you haven’t seen it yet — call for a ticket: 513-421-3555.

Each week in Stage
Door, Rick Pender offers theater tips for the weekend, often with a
few pieces of theater news.

I think there
are few more satisfying segments of musical theater than the opening 10 minutes
of the musical Chicago,
which is in town for a brief run at the Aronoff Center. The first number, “All
That Jazz,” gives you an encyclopedia of the stylistic dance moves of iconic
choreographer Bob Fosse, followed by “Funny Honey,” an introduction of Roxie
Hart, who murders her low-life lover. A few minutes later, “Cell Block Tango”
provides the set-up for the colorful women who are in prison for their acts of
violence. The touring production stars Terra MacLeod as Velma Kelly and Bianca
Marroquin as Roxie Hart (the roles played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee
Zellweger in the Academy Award-winning film) and they dance and sing with the
requisite zest. Chicago opens with a quick speech defining it as containing
“violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery — all the things we hold near
and dear to our hearts.” If you’re looking for a stylish musical with nary a
whiff of the holidays, this is the show to see this weekend. It runs through
Sunday. Tickets: 800-982-2787.

OK, I’m a little behind the curve in sharing the word about Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s 25th season, which was actually announced about a week ago. It was a tad anticlimactic, since Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers had announced some of this information back in early June. Nevertheless, with the opening of the 2010-2011 season just a few weeks away, the complete picture is now in place. ETC will offer four regional premieres, a premiere musical revue and several special limited performance events.

Since the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts opened back in 2002, it’s become the go-to place for onstage entertainment on the West Side, including the summertime Cincinnati Young People’s Theatre, which provides theater opportunities for high school kids from across the city. The facility is owned and operated by Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP), recently inducted into the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hall of Fame on Aug. 30. CLP also operates the Showboat Majestic.

The Covedale Center has been a busy place, but the converted 1940s movie house had minimal backstage space — until now. After several years of tight quarters, no running water or bathrooms, the facility has been renovated and expanded: There is now a rehearsal studio, a green room, two dressing rooms, shop space and two handicapped-accessible bathrooms. This evening marks the grand opening of the addition with a reception for VIPs and local media.

There's nothing unlucky about Friday the 13th in the theater world. (Theater folks have enough other superstitions anyway.) So you have lots of excellent choices this weekend, from the very funny The Foreigner at the Playhouse (just opened) to the satiric Timon of Athens at Cincinnati Shakespeare (see review here).

If you want a heavy-duty drama, try Bent at New Stage Collective (it's about the mistreatment of gays in Nazi concentration camps; see my review here). And if you want to see some of the talent that keeps spilling out of UC's College-Conservatory of Music, I recommend that you stop by the Over-the-Rhine nightclub Below Zero tonight after 10 p.m.